Pai Seeks Aug. 6 Vote on ICS Rates

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants commissioners to vote at the FCC's Aug. 6 meeting on prison phone rates, an issue attracting additional scrutiny during COVID-19 and amid protests over policing, criminal justice and racial diversity. Inmate calling services providers would "generally be subject to the FCC’s rules when it comes to ancillary service charges -- including our fee caps and our limits on the types of charges allowed," Pai blogged Wednesday.

Commissioners also would vote "to propose lowering our existing caps for interstate calls," the chairman said. The per-minute limit would go from 21 cents for debit and prepaid calls and 25 cents for collect calls to 14 cents for debit, prepaid and collect calls from prisons and 16 cents from jails.

"Unlike virtually every other American, inmates and the people they call generally have no choice in their telephone service provider. Instead, their only option is typically an inmate calling services provider that, once chosen by that correctional facility, operates as a monopolist," Pai wrote. "Not surprisingly, without effective regulation, rates for inmate calling services can be unjustly and unreasonably high and make it difficult inmates and their loved ones from staying connected."

Prison phone companies and their lawyers didn't comment.